Wrapping Things Up and My Weekend Off in Lauterbrunnen

Ciao Tutti (Hello Everyone). I hope you're all well. The summer is wrapping up here in Switzerland and everything (including the cows) are still treating me very well.

Some things that have been going on in that last week or so...

Kinte's (photography teacher in green) let me tag along with his class for two days last week on their fieldtrips.

We visited some waterfalls and swimming holes at a place called Valle Biasca.

Here is Romola, from Nigeria, getting the hang of Kinte's camera.

Romola at the swimming area at Valle Biasca ... not a bad place to hang out on a hot afternoon.

the city of Biasca

We also went to a picturesque town of Gandria which is situated along Lake Lugano.

a Gandrian rooftop

We also had a crazy rain/hail/lightning storm. Here is my roommate Ben knee-high in water.

Swiss Day was on August 1st, for which we had chocolate fondue.

Francesca and I were in charge of melting down the chocolate for the fondue.

Fun experience,

but my self-restraint was tested.

The students did blind chocolate tasting ... yum!

Then my, and three other counselors', weekend off finally came. Every teacher and counselor gets one weekend off and for ours - Ben (left), Carl (right), Sam (back) and I - decided to rent a car and head to the Lauterbrunnen Valley situated in the Alps.

We hit the road on Friday afternoon.

This is what the scenery looked like on the drive.

a glacier

and waterfalls everywhere you looked

the Nufenen Pass - the highest pass in Switzerland at 2478 meters

Since our weekend fell during of height of the tourist season in Switzerland all the hotels and hostels were booked. We decided to camp, which was a lot of fun. Notice the tent is bigger than the car. You know your car is small (or packed to capacity) when you discover the empty glove-box and say, "look at all this space!"

Lauterbrunnen is sort of a Mecca for extreme-sport enthusiasts - paragliding, hang-gliding, bungee jumping, etc. (see the video later)

On Saturday we took a gondola up to the town of Murren which is on a cliff above the Lauterbunnen Valley.

Tennis with a view anyone?

Ben, Sam and me

Ben majored in outdoor education in college and is a certified ropes course instructor so when we found out about a cliff walk called the Via Ferrata (the iron way), we borrowed some gear and followed his lead.

At first it was simply walking down some steep paths overlooking the valley,

but then the path diminished

into rocks, cables and metal rungs.

This is a 3,000 ft drop. The little things below are trees, houses and cars.

But we were having a great time.

Here's a good one of Carl to give you some perspective.

Here's the Lauterbrunnen Valley. The Via Ferrata was to the left of the water fall you see here. Doesn't this look like Yosemite?

 

During our walk we came across a strangley-dressed guy on a platform looking down. Watch this video.

There was cable-traversing,

next to a magnificent waterfall.

Most of us were satisfied to make it across. Carl wasn't until he had hung upside down.

He wants to be a Marine though.

There were descents

a suspension bridge

with another dizzying drop.

Leading up to this weekend we had been giving Sam a hard time because she had never been camping before, hadn't done much outdoor activities ... and because she was the only girl. But she was a trooper. She was singing and full of smiles on the cliff walk. She proved us all wrong.

We visited some picturesque towns after the cliff walk. This is an old cheese hut in the town of Gimmelwald. I want flowers like this on my house in the future.

We had to run down a mountain to get out of a lightening storm. Carl and Ben saw lightening strike a cliff and shoot sparks off.

On Sunday things cleared up,

and so we hiked to the town of Wengen.

Which had lots of great places to buy souvenirs,

and take in more amazing views.

A description of this weekend wouldn't be complete without mentioning the waterfalls though.

The Trummelbach Waterfall was especially amazing. You can't see it until you hike back inside a gorge in the cliffs. Rick Steve's calls it God's bandsaw because of the way it rips through the rock.

The noise (5,000 gallons per second) is deafening when you are standing near it. It was one of those "I feel very small next to nature" moments.

Overall it was a great weekend. No electronics, no agendas ... just good company, the outdoors, and time. This is the recipe for rejuvenation.

My time here at TASIS is setting and I will see you all soon.

Pace.